Contra Costa Hazardous Materials Program, issued April 1, 2024
The public has an opportunity to comment on the Incident Investigation/ Root Cause Analysis report (from a third-party consultant)associated with a spent catalyst release from the Martinez Refining Company (MRC) which occurred between November 24-25, 2022. The 45-day comment period is opening on April 4, 2024, and then closes on May 20, 2024. A public meeting will be held at the Contra Costa County Administration Building, Room 110A/B/C located at 1025 Escobar Street in Martinez on April 11, 2024, from 6:00PM to 8:00 PM.
To join via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/98874840760
or Dial: (669) 900-6833 Webinar ID: 988 7484 0760
MRC had a particulate matter release from their Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (CCU) on November 24-25, 2022. This release was estimated to have emitted 20-24 tons of fine particulate matter, called spent catalyst, into the surrounding community. TheCounty, working with an Oversight Committee, hired Scott Berger and Associates to perform the incident investigation. TheOversight Committee included members of the community, the City of Martinez, the City of Benicia, United Steel Workers, a refinery representative, and CCHHMP.
If you are interested and are available, attend the Public Meeting or submit comments on the report to Hazmat.Arpteam@cchealth.org or mail comments to the following address:
Contra Costa Health Hazardous Materials Programs
Attn: Michael Dossey
4585 Pacheco Blvd., Ste. 100
Martinez, CA 94553
More about Contra Costa’s search for accountability and transparency from refineries on BenIndy:
[Note from BenIndy: Trying this again after we encountered a bug. This post was first published on Stephen Golub’s blog, A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country. There, Steve blogs about domestic and international politics and policy, including lessons that the United States can learn from other nations. If interested, you may sign up for future posts by subscribing to the blog.]
Bruce Springsteen performs in Italy in July 2023. | Sergione Infuse / Corbis via Getty.
Pushing 75, His Concerts Still Deliver Solace, Hope and Dreams…and Inspiration for 2024
By Stephen Golub, originally published on A Promised Land, April 7, 2024
It’s one of my five favorite Bruce Springsteen songs. He opened his March 31 San Francisco concert with it. I was lucky enough to be there.
The high-octane tune is about a trucker driving hard after a week on the road, determined to get down to good times in Galveston by Saturday night. But it’s more generally about pushing ahead with hope after getting “a little lost along the way” and about turning the corner to find the light of day.
Similarly, Bruce’s entire performance was about far more than just putting on a show, as I learned from both him and a fellow audience member over the course of the evening. More on that in a minute.
The Church of Bruce
With age and recent illness looming over our hero, my stepson/fellow fan Trevor and I knew that this might be our last chance to take in Bruce and his E Street Band in concert. It was our fifth time seeing him together, stretching back well over a decade. It was my thirtieth such Springsteen experience since watching him open for Chicago at Madison Square Garden in 1973.
As Springsteen told the throng early in the evening, the show is not just about what he and the band do. It also hinges on how we respond – acting in concert with him, if you will. The supposedly laid-back California crowd loudly lived up to our part of the bargain.
For those unfamiliar with what I’d call the Church of Bruce, his appeal partly flows from the degree to which his adherents identify with his music: One fellow fan calls it “the story of my life.”
To watch this YouTube video, click the image and a new tab will open.
The fans’ intense devotion also stems from his concerts’ joyful energy and audience engagement. At its peak, the interplay is akin to a religious revival, though with salvation subservient to fun. This “Light of Day” video from a 2000 New York City show exemplifies that, albeit in an extreme way:
Neither Trev nor I are the most demonstrative people in the world. But both of us danced, shouted, sang along and let it rip throughout the evening.
That someone pushing 75 could still push out three hours of non-stop singing, twisting, shouting and guitar/harmonica playing was astounding. As he playfully bellowed to the roaring crowd near the end of the show, “You’ve just seen the heart-stoppin’, pants-droppin’, earth-quakin’, booty-shakin’, love-makin’, Viagra-takin’, history-makin’ E Street Band!”
He proved it all night.
Spirits in the Night
Springsteen’s music has always featured anger, angst, passion, pride, love, longing, hope and dreams. It’s ultimately about life.
As life has taken its toll, with friends and fellow band members passing on, he’s blended newer messages into the mix: treasure loved ones, here and gone; cherish their memories; relish each day.
The point hit home in an unexpectedly poignant way due to the pleasant 60-something woman – whom I’ll call Mary – seated beside us during the concert. Getting there early, Trev and I had lots of time to chat with her before the band came on. She’s a James Taylor fan, but attended the show (alone) because her late husband was a Springsteen devotee.
We didn’t pry into that very personal matter. But I couldn’t help but reflect a bit on why Mary was there: Maybe to feel the spirit of her beloved partner there with her?
That possibility reemerged in the middle of the concert, as the band eased into the somber “My City of Ruins.” I at first wondered why they were playing it at all during a resoundingly upbeat night. Bruce originally composed it a quarter-century ago to lament urban and economic rot in Asbury Park, New Jersey, near where he grew up. He recorded and reinterpreted the tune in his post-9/11 album, The Rising, as a tribute to devastated New York City.
In one inescapable sense it’s a dirge, marked by these lines:
Now there’s tears on the pillow, darling, where we slept
And you took my heart when you left
Without your sweet kiss my soul is lost, my friend
Tell me how do I begin again
But “My City of Ruins” is about more than sorrow. It’s also about beginning again in the face of unfathomable adversity, as its refrain repeatedly urges listeners to find strength and “rise up.”
And that’s what Bruce asked the assemblage to do as he introduced the song and yet again reinterpreted the tune in the process. His remarks made it not about a ruined city but about our resilient selves. He urged us to realize that our lost loved ones remain with us in crucial ways. I couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Mary, only guessing at what she might be feeling.
But I knew what I was feeling, as I recalled my own dearly departed with gratitude for what I’d shared with them, learned from them and still carried with me, and with hope that I could honor their deaths by cherishing life.
Speaking of resilience…
In this election year, our society faces a kind of severe adversity we would have found unfathomable just a decade ago. Our future may seem to rest on the seemingly frail shoulders of a leader pushing 82.
But if an aging rocker, not much younger, can still deliver powerful performances at a uniquely demanding job night after night, it’s not too much to trust that his elder can do it day after day, as he’s done for the past three years. It’s not too much to believe that the same man can triumph in November and beyond.
And just as Bruce reminded the crowd that the success of his concert involved our efforts, the success of the campaign depends on us as well.=
Speaking of hope…
The elation of a Springsteen experience can give way to reflection. I think that I’ve been thinking about the 2024 campaign in the wrong way. It’s not just about beating back those who’d drag us into a dark age for democracy, for women, for America’s role in the world, for so much more.
It’s also about seeing this as a chance to move forward on those fronts and so many more.
It’s not just about fear and anger. It’s about hope and dreams.
Despite the darkness, and with enough drive and dedication, we could be just around the corner from the light of day.
SUISUN CITY – A poll conducted by the nationally recognized group FM3 found that Solano County voters are overwhelmingly opposed to California Forever’s proposal to build a new city of 400,000 residents in a remote part of Eastern Solano County. When it comes to the proposed “East Solano Homes, Jobs, and Clean Energy Initiative” for the November election, 70% of poll participants say they would vote no if elections were held today.
There is an unusually high level of voter awareness about this project as compared to the majority of ballot initiatives at this point in the campaign. Polling data reveals that Solano County residents are well aware of the proposed California Forever project—three-quarters (76%) have heard about it—and also shows that the more they know, the less likely they are to support it. Of those who indicated that they have heard “a lot” about the proposal, 79% are opposed. Opposition cuts across every major demographic and geographic subgroup of the Solano County electorate.
Additionally, poll results highlight the profound public mistrust of the backers of California Forever. Flannery Associates’ approach has sowed distrust by deploying secretive tactics, keeping their identity elusive, suing farmers, and misleading the public, government officials, and landowners about their intentions. Trust is a major concern for Solano County voters, and these secretive and duplicitous tactics have contributed to strong opposition to this project. Voters view Flannery Associates unfavorably by an 8% to 34% margin and view California Forever unfavorably by a 16% to 42% margin.
Solano County voters care deeply about preserving their community’s agricultural heritage and the ecological and habitat resources surrounding their cities. They are enthusiastic about a future with more investment in homes, jobs, and infrastructure within their existing cities to benefit current and future residents. They are not interested in allowing a group of outside interests who have been secretly planning a project to benefit their own investors at the expense of local farmers to shape the future of the County. They see through the empty promises of the project proponents and understand the adverse effects this project will have on the County’s future.
These results send a powerful message—this is not what the Solano County people want.
Screenshot from FM3 report. Click the image to view the full report.
Voters want to see more housing and better-paying jobs in the region while also protecting their agricultural lands and natural resources and strengthening existing cities. We call on the California Forever team to rethink the harmful, divisive approach of a ballot measure reversing decades of thoughtful planning and agricultural protection in Solano County. There is still time to reverse course and come to the table for a genuinely community-driven process to strengthen farming, ecological, and climate resilience protections and refocus investments within our existing diverse and growing Solano County cities.
FM3 Research conducted the poll with 428 likely November 2024 voters in Solano County between March 4 and 10, 2024, interviewed by phone and online. The margin of sampling error is ±4.9%, with a 95% confidence interval. See more details here.
About Solano Together: A group of concerned residents, leaders, and organizations who came together to form a coalition that envisions a better future for Solano County, focuses development into existing cities, and strengthens our agricultural industry. Our work is driven by an alternative vision for Solano in the face of Flannery Associates’ claims about California Forever’s benefits—our vision is guided by local voices and perspectives. Learn more, volunteer, or join the coalition by visiting solanotogether.org
[Note from BenIndy: This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from Air District insiders what the District does, how it does it, and what might be next. This is a free public meeting open to all, regardless of party preference or city of residence.]
Smoke from the Valero Benicia refinery wafts over residential neighborhoods during a 2017 incident. | Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
From Progressive Dems of Benicia Meeting Notice, sent April 2, 2024:
Dear members and supporters—
We’re delighted to share more information about our April 9th meeting at 7pm, which we revealed last week will focus on the quality of our air – a hot topic given the warming weather and the recent Level-3 Incident at a local refinery. (The picture here is not from that incident, it is from a 2017 incident; click the image to be redirected to a YouTube news report.)
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), or “the Air District,” is our local regulatory agency when it comes to air pollution. It’s been around for decades, but its mission and activities are a mystery to many. Luckily, our amazing panel of Air District representatives will be on hand to guide us through what it does, how it does it, and what it’s working on to keep Bay Area residents healthy and safe.
Air District Panel
We are pleased to share that our panel will include BAAQMD’s Executive Officer/Air Pollution Control Officer, Dr. Philip Fine, formerly a presidential appointment to the EPA and the South Coast Air Management Quality District; Deputy Executive Officer of Public Affairs Viet Tran; BAAQMD Board of Directors member and Benicia Mayor Steve Young; and BAAQMD’s Community Advisory Council Co-Chair Ken Szutu, who also founded the Citizen Air Monitoring Network in Vallejo before serving as its director. We also expect that other staff members of the Air District will join us.
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